Good-bye World

Dear World,
Thank you so much for coming to Lexington for the World Equestrian Games.  Thank you for spending so many fun-filled weeks here, bringing your gorgeous horses and making Lexington the coolest place to be on the planet!  It was a great time. 



Driving World Championship

 Thank you, as well, for telling us how nice we Kentuckians are and how genuine that nice-ness was.  I think you are certainly nice, too, for noticing and for saying so over and over again!  You were a lot of fun and reminded me that I live in one of the most beautiful places in the U.S.  If you hadn't been here, I probably wouldn't have ridden my bike out Legacy Trail four times (!) or even gone to the Horse Park once before the end of the year, much less 6 times in two weeks. 

When you told us you were going to come visit four years ago, I never really believed that World Equestrian Games would live up to the hype.  In actuality, you vastly exceeded every expectation I had.

Again, World, thank you for coming.  I hope you have safe travels home and will come back to see us again soon.  We'll miss you!

With Best wishes,
Gwen

Indian Stairway

My minions

 


Queens of the Hill!





Spider Monkey demonstrating his beast climbing skills on the Indian Stairway



"I get up with a little help from my friends"...MR helps Christina overcome a slight fear of heights



Are y'all coming up?



This picture makes me think, "Yeah!"



My butt's not actually THAT big...it's just my fanny pack.



We found the Flintstone's Living Room!!  The latest in pre-historic furniture design!

Pretty....

Frog's Head.  So...we were amazed as we were told we'd go past a formation that looked like a Frog's head.  Wow...

Still happy.  The point we climbed up from was to the right of the photo and we hiked around the ridge.  We went past several rock houses we climbed down to (Flintstone's Living room) and then climbed back up to the ridge.

You can barely see the Frog Head across the ridge top in this photo.  Sadly, people had carved their initials and other unsavory things on his little head.  Bad vandals...

Adena Arch

Huh...well it turns out I hadn't ever been to the trail called Indian Stairway!  I think where I had been before was actually a place called "Cloudsplitter".  While I have a bit of a  tendency to live in the moment and think that whatever thing I'm doing, book I'm reading, Christmas tree I'm decorating, is the best ever, I think that Indian Stairway, might just be THE BEST TRAIL EVER (in the Gorge at least...thanks for pointing that out yesterday Will...we have hiked cooler trails out West -- that would actually be in the Virgin River in Zion Canyon, Utah!!)  Anyway...where was I...Indian Stairway, perhaps one of the best trails in the Gorge?  It definitely is at the top of the list and Mary Rollins said it was the best trail she'd ever hiked there!

I've heard about Indian Stairway for years but never hiked it because I couldn't figure out where it was.  It's not an "official" trail and I sometimes tend toward disorientation so I've hiked multiple other trails instead of the trail I'm looking for when my minions start to get irritated with my losted-ness.  But, yesterday, we struck gold and I found some awesome directions on the Internet which I copied and pasted into an email I sent to myself so we could keep looking at them in the phone while hiking  I was feeling pretty clever and while I suppose I could have printed them I'm trying to be paper conscious.  Also, I made sure that I had the message downloaded in my phone BEFORE we got out of cell phone coverage which happens pretty quickly in eastern Kentucky.

We did have a few "lost" moments even with the great directions and my iPhone compass and we only nearly took one wrong turn off a cliff (my bad...MR was leading the way and I was trusting her sense of direction as it's usually spot on!) and we found many many geological jewels along the way.  Will and Wyatt said they saw a wolf/coyote (MR sand I suspect it was a squirrel--it is easy to confuse them) and asked me for his pocket knife I was carrying to defend themselves.  Sadly, I could not find it in my bag at that very moment, so I gave him a ball point pen I was carrying.  The boys seemed quite pleased with that as a weapon and scampered ahead on the trail while Christina, MR and I went back for a fanny pack inadvertently left at the bottom of the Indian Stairway.  We made a loop hiking the ridge top with GORGEous views, hiked along a section of the trail that had us on the cliff's edge -- definitely not a trail for small children -- and ultimately ended up back on the Sheltowee Trail and back to our car.  In all, I suspect we hiked about 6 miles.

And a good time was had by all (except Will who claims he'll never go hiking with me again because I don't do what he says...)

"Tent City" behind Miguel's.

And, to end the day:  Miguel's pizza.  Hooray!!  We saw license plates from: Utah, California, Ontario, Indiana, Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ohio and Connecticut.

Hooray for Fall Break!!



Destination Lunch...



Fall Break....fall break...fall break!!!!  I have four children upstairs sleeping in on a Wednesday that I shall soon roust from bed, feed some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and force to go hiking in the Gorge today.  Yippee!!!   We're going to hunt for an "unofficial" trail called Indian Staircase that I haven't hiked since 1994.  There's a good chance we'll be hiking a different trail as my map-reading skills aren't always the best.  Probably it's a good thing, I have GPS in my car...

Technically, it's a "WEG Break", but we're making it a Gorge Break today (We'll be back out at the Games on Friday and Sunday).  And, if everybody's really nice and doesn't fall off any cliffs today we're going to Miguel's Pizza for lunch in Slade.  Miguel's is a super kooky little restaurant/climber rendez-vous joint with cars from all over the Northern Hemisphere in the parking lot.  I love just walking around checking out all the license plates.  Most of the time there are more out-of-state plates than in-state, with travellers coming from all over to climb and hike the Gorge. 

Four-legged celebrity alert

FYI...the horse that starred in Hidalgo as well as the horse that stars in Secretariat and Dreamer were both in town yesterday for the World Equestrian games.  They were here for some horse training demos at the Convention Center held in conjunction with WEG.  A friend of mine saw them yesterday. 
(And, he also bought a memory foam saddlepad for his horse.  Wow, that is one lucky horse -- a tempurpedic saddlepad.  Talk about things coming a long way.)

I wonder if celebrity movie star horses have special requests like no brown M & Ms...

Hello Fall...It's nice to see you again...

Pumpkin Picking 2004...just a little blast from the past

It must be Fall.  Yesterday, I wore a coat the entire day.  Even inside on two listing appointments and a home inspection.  I couldn't seem to warm up which seemed ironic because it was so chilly and dark at 6 am here that I ran on the treadmill for the first time in months and couldn't cool down for more than an hour afterwards.  But, I guess once I did cool down that was that.  This morning, I just came upstairs to write for a bit and I can smell the furnace which we turned on yesterday.  When MR came home from school yesterday, she even said, "oooooh, I love that smell when we first turn on the furnace in the Fall!"    It is certainly a scent that they haven't made into a potpourri yet.  Maybe we could and name it, "Fall Furnace". Or, maybe our duct work needs cleaning.

I probably spend too much time inside my head debating my favorite season.  I like them all no question -- one of the best parts of Kentucky is having four seasons but the real choice is always between Fall and Spring.  At this moment though, even with our trees a little too dry for the glorious autumn colors they normally achieve, I think Fall wins.  Boots, football, leaf raking, pumpkins, Halloween, sweaters, the beginning of Nutcracker season...

Of course, remind me of that next Spring when I am extolling the beauty of daffodils and looking back through pictures of Spring Break and Easter Egg Hunts.

In the meantime, I'm going to go make some pumpkin muffins and see what happened yesterday at the World Equestrian Games.  What's your favorite part of Fall?

Secretariat, the movie...



 As if Lexington weren't exciting enough, this photo that looks like an empty street is the closed street for the world premiere of Secretariat! The showing is at our own Kentucky Theater and Diane Lane herself is in attendance!! Unfortunately, I was not invited nor could I afford to buy my way in! Oh well, I had to pick Mary Rollins up from youth group at church so at least I got to see the closed street. 

Much of the movie was filmed in Lexington. We've seen the trailer with lots of great shots of Keeneland and Spindletop!  I can't wait to go see it.  I was only seven years old when Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973 but I still remember the day he won the Kentucky Derby.  My dad had Secretariat in our family Derby pool and fell of a ladder the same day.  I remember it was a lucky/unlucky day for him.  I also remember going out to Claiborne Farm as a girl to see Big Red in retirement.  Probably (if my parents could find any of their photos), I have a picture with him. 

Now that might make it worthwhile looking through my parents' basement! 

Spotlight Lexington

Happy Saturday.  I have a house full of guests!  Again!  Love it!  Some of whom came for WEG, some of whom came for a sleepover, and some just using us as way station while driving to Florida (but they're going to go to WEG while they are here).  Marc went out early and we have a huge box of carbs for our guests from Magee's Bakery -- my favorite including almond croissants!--and reported in that Magee's was full of Europeans.  Some Frenchies were standing at the counter holding a giant cinnamon bun while rapidly speaking French.  I wondered if they were questioning the quality of American pastry but he thinks they were yammering that "no wonder Americans are so freaking fat!!  Look at the size of this thing!"

Laura Bell Bundy at Spotlight Lexington in very short dress

Here's a picture from our great adventure last night.  As part of the World Equestrian Games, Lexington is hosting Spotlight on Lexington -- a festival of art and music.  We've had some great talent in town and last night we just had to go see Laura Bell Bundy (Broadway star -- Hairspray, Legally Blonde -- turned country music wannabe star).  There was a great crowd and the critical review of Laura Bell Bundy from my party of girls was that her dress was really short and they wished she were singing Broadway Show tunes.  Okay, really. that was just Mary Rollins and me wishing for Broadway show tunes.  After all, why would you want to be anything but a Broadway star?   For Seth Rudetsky fans (you know who you are) we think she's a head singer.

All in all, it was fun!  We stayed for three of her songs, pet the mounted police horses, MR's BFF stepped in some horse manure that was in the street -- one of the downsides of being "The Horse Capitol of the World", and went home to our little abode. 

Have I mentioned that anyone who lives within a day's driving distance to Lexington and doesn't come for the World Equestrian Games is missing the opportunity of a lifetime? 

The World Equestrian Games -- Day 6?

I know, it's Friday and you've been dying for a new blog post all week and been wondering why the heck I haven't written anything.  Who would've imagined that I would have been out at the World Equestrian Games almost everyday (except Monday which was raining but a really fun day anyway -- saving that for another post).

These aren't our actual bikes, however, we \
did ride bikes out there.  THREE TIMES!!

I think I'm officially a WEG addict.  My beloved sister (aka Mere) from SC has been in town since last Friday night (and we had Isabug here over the weekend too and are now missing her soooo much) and after the kids leave for school, we keep finding ourselves at the World Equestrian Games.  Tuesday, it started as a morning bike ride activity on the new Legacy Trail.  The next thing you know, there we are credit cards in hand at the Horse Park gates buying our $25 grounds passes to the park.  It was only 10 a.m. and it did seem like a shame to ride our bikes all the way out there and not actually go in.



Pretty horses...

 Wednesday, we're back again.  This time with tickets to Grand Prix Dressage courtesy of my mom and dad who wanted to take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to the World Equestrian games.  They so nicely told me to buy tickets to any event that we wanted to go to for both of my sisters and for them.  (Silly me, I should have bought the $600 tickets to the Maker's Mark Pavilion).  Dressage looked to be at the best time for our schedule and it was fantastic to watch.  In retrospect, it was the perfect contrast to the Reining Championships we went to over the weekend! 

The California Cowgirls...their show is AWESOME!

Before we even left on Wednesday, we already decided to give in to the draw of the Games and come back on Thursday.  Maybe it was the opportunity to see the California Cowgirls.  Or, the Double Dans.  There's just so much to do and so much to see.  It's absolutely irresistible!

WEG update (or Fun fun fun...and horses!)

Endurance Rider!

Ummm..WEG...that's World Equestrian Games, Mere (hee hee..just kidding). 

Soooo much fun out at the Horse Park yesterday for the first real day of the World Equestrian Games.  We totally lucked out with tickets for the final set of the Team Reining World Championships with awesome seats (well..they're all awesome really) and were there to see Shawn Flarida (USA) compete with the best ride of the whole event!  And, we got to see the medal ceremony for the event which the US Team won by a pretty wide margin.  It was just like the Olympics, except for the part where the riders rode out on their horses to mount the medal stand.  Horses did not get on the stand though!  The lovely Princess Haya of Dubai awarded the medals to the winners, the flags of the winning teams rose up as the Star Spangled Banner played.  Very moving!  I waved my American Flag the whole time and tried to get the people around me to shout USA like we were at the World Cup but I couldn't get anybody else to play along (as a tip, that's a great way to embarrass your teen-ager).

Add caption

Shawn Flarida and horse doing the slide.  He had the highest score of the day!

That's Princess Haya. In the front...looking like a princess.

The Medal Presentation.  Horse to the left not so keen on the noise.

The flags rising at the Reining Team Medal Presentation

).  Also, we saw several of the Endurance riders crossing Iron Works Road and Paris Pike and had to stop for them.  Isabug (in from NY for the weekend) and I got out of the car and ran along the side of the road to get better pictures.  It reminded me a bit of trying to take pictures of wildlfe in Yellowstone.  Sheik Mohommed came in 2nd and the United Arab Emirates took the Team Gold.  The first-place finisher was a woman from Spain who had given birth 7 weeks ago.  Unbelievable!  I think she might be my new hero.

Honestly, this couldn't be more exciting!  We really do have the world here in Lexington! 

Buzzard Bait

Will thinks that Cleo might be too fat for a buzzrd to carry off.

The weather here has been so dry that one of my neighbors stopped me in the driveway to report that there was a huge gang of turkey vultures working the 'hood.  With our drought, the water in the lake must be attracting buzzards.  She wanted to be sure that Cleo and Howie aren't left unattended out in the backyard where they might become buzzard bait.

This makes me think several things:
1.  I have really nice neighbors,
2.  Are roaming gangs of buzzards terrorizing your neighborhood bad for your property values?
3.  Would, in fact, a Jack Russell Terrier be a tasty treat?

Weird.

P.S.. I saw a few of them circling overhead while I was running this morning.  Do you think that's a commentary on how I look when I run?

Spotlight Lexington Festival Rundown

A night on the town with some favorite ballet girls!!

Lookie what I have...I'm sure you can find this somewhere else but I thought I'd post it here for those considering what they can do in Lexington over the course of the next two weeks besides looking at horses!!
Oh...and Monday, I'm thinking that we might need to bike HorseMania (and stop for lots of food and coffee along the way.  Six Friends Cafe, anyone?

At Courthouse Plaza


Friday, September 24

Opening Night Celebration, presented by Applebee’s
6 pm Scott Said and the Backroads Band
7 pm Danny Gokey
8 pm Blake Shelton

Saturday, September 25

1:30 pm UK Jazz Ensemble
3 pm Bluegrass Area Jazz Ensemble
5 pm DiMartino Osland Jazz Orchestra
9 pm Here Come the Mummies (Funk)

Sunday, September 26

2:30 pm A Capella
6 pm “Celebrating the Equine Spirit” Parade
7:30 pm Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue (Jazz)

Monday, September 27

12 – 1:30 pm LIVE GAMES TELECAST

(Centrepointe Block)

6 pm The City (Rhythm & Blues)

Tuesday, September 28

7 pm The Juggernaut Jug Band

Wednesday, September 29 – TBA

Thursday, September 30

4 pm Song of the Bluegrass (Choral)

5:30 pm The Kentuckian Chorus (Choral)

8 pm Lexington Singers (Choral)

Friday, October 1

7 pm Opening Entertainment

8 pm Laura Bell Bundy (Country)

Saturday, October 2

5 pm Swinging On Main

8 pm Swing Street (Variety Dance Band)

Sunday, October 3

1 – 4 pm LIVE GAMES TELECAST

(Centrepointe Block)

5 pm Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra

7 pm Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra

Monday, October 4

10 am - 12:30 pm LIVE GAMES TELECAST

(Centrepointe Block)

2:30 – 5 pm LIVE GAMES TELECAST

(Centrepointe Block)

5:30 pm Broadway Showcase with Broadway Bound,

ACE, Summerfest, Laura Bell Bundy, Lyndy

Franklin, JC Montgomery, and Jason Heymann

Tuesday, October 5

10 am – 12:30 pm LIVE GAMES TELECAST

(Centrepointe Block)

2:30 – 5 pm LIVE GAMES TELECAST

(Centrepointe Block)

6 pm The Jimmy Church Band (Motown, R&B)
LOVE THE JIMMY CHURCH BAND!!


Wednesday, October 6

6 pm Grand Night for Singing (Opera)

Thursday, October 7

6 pm The Spazmatics (80’s Review band)

Friday, October 8

5 pm JD Crowe and the New South (Bluegrass)

8 pm Sam Bush (Bluegrass)

Saturday, October 9

3 pm Kentucky Ballet Theatre

5 pm Lexington Ballet Company  (Not Mary Rollins though...as we thought we'd be out of town)

7 pm Lula Washington Dance Theatre and

the River City Drum Corp

Spotlight Lexington volunteers filled the Council Chambers recently during training. (Photo by Malcolm Stallons)

Sunday, October 10

2 pm SECOND SUNDAY

4 – 6 pm LIVE GAMES TELECAST

(Centrepointe Block)

6:30 pm Closing Celebration

Rob Base & Don Jacobs

Grand Prize Give-Away

8 pm Fireworks

AT CHEAPSIDE PARK

Saturday, September 25

1 pm Logan Leet (Singer/Songwriter)

3 pm Kati Penn and Newtown (Bluegrass)

5:30 pm No Tools Loaned (Country/Bluegrass)

8:30 pm Mother Jane (Folk)

Sunday, September 26

2 pm Reel World String Band (Americana/Folk)  they should be great!

4:30 pm Carla Van Hoose (Americana/Folk)

7 pm Blind Corn Liquor Pickers

(Americana/Bluegrass)

Monday, September 27

5:30 pm Robbie Bartlett (Classic R&B/Jazz)

Tuesday, September 28

5:30 pm The Stella Vees (Swing/Blues)

8 pm The G. Busy Blues Revue (Blues)

Wednesday, September 29 – TBA

Thursday, September 30

5:30 pm Zydeco Bon (Blues/Cajun)

8 pm DJ Rice and the Payin’ Dues Blues Band

(Blues/Jazz)

Friday, October 1

6 pm “Lexington En Vogue 2010” Fashion Show

8 pm Track 3 (Classic Rock)

Saturday, October 2

5 pm Swinging On Main

Sunday, October 3

3 pm The Jason Scott Band (Country)

5:30 pm TBA

8 pm Stir Fry (World/Jazz)

Monday, October 4

5:30 pm The Swells (Jazz/Blues)

Tuesday, October 5 – TBA

Wednesday, October 6

5:30 pm The Big Maracas (Latin)

Thursday, October 7

5:30 pm The Swells Brass Band

8 pm O-Zone (Blues/Jazz)

Friday, October 8

5:30 pm Velveeta Jones (Blues/Jazz)

8 pm Gravy (Rock/Jazz)

Saturday, October 9 - TBA

Sunday, October 10

2 pm Superfecta (Jazz/Rock)

6 pm Tee Dee Young (Jazz/Blues/Funk)

AT TRIANGLE PARK

Saturday, September 25

10 am – 6 pm Kentucky Market

10 am – 2 pm Hemp Rope Accessories

2 pm – 6 pm Kentucky Treasure Box

Sunday, September 26

10 am – 6 pm Kentucky Market

10 am – 2 pm Horse Sculptures

10 am – 2 pm Large-Scale Weaving (Stage)

2 pm Energizers (Dance Group – Stage)

2 pm – 6 pm Mini Journals**

Thursday, September 30 & Friday, October 1

10 am – 6 pm Kentucky Market

Saturday, October 2

10 am – 6 pm Kentucky Market

10 am – 2 pm “Guys and Gals”

11 am Mecca (Dance Group – Stage)

12 pm – 2 pm Banners **

2 pm McTeggart Irish Dancers

2 pm – 6 pm Recycled Jewelry

4 & 5:30 pm Lexington Philharmonic Kinder Konzert (Stage)

Sunday, October 3

10 am – 6 pm Kentucky Market

10 am – 2 pm Jockey Silks: Design Your Own!

11 am David Garrard’s Magic Show

1:30 pm Alebrijes (Ballet on Stage)

2 – 6 pm Postcards from Kentucky

2:30 pm David Garrard’s Magic Show

3:30 pm Alebrijes (Ballet on Stage)

5 pm David Garrard’s Magic Show

Thursday, October 7 & Friday, October 8

10 am – 6 pm Kentucky Market

October 9

10 am – 6 pm Kentucky Market

10 am – 2 pm Native Americans in Kentucky Woven

Bookmarks

2 pm – 6 pm Painted Horseshoes

3 pm Lula Washington

3:30 pm River City Drum Corp

October 10

10 am – 6 pm Kentucky Market

10 am – 2 pm Stepping Stones Music Making

12 pm – 2 pm Lexington Children’s Theater (Stage)

2 pm – 6 pm Folk arts of India

**Denotes Community Projects

a little post about WEG -- the Endurance Race

This morning's newspaper had a nice article about the 100 mile endurance race.  Apparently, only about 40% of the participants have finished the race in previous World Championships.  They are hoping that 50% finish it this year.  And, I also heard that the Sheik (i.e. King) of Dubai is on his country's team.  You can't really watch any of the event though because the route goes through people's farms,

Endurance sounds so cool to me.  I'm thinking like the movie Hidalgo cool except without the horses dying.  When I was a kid, riding horses out on Delong Road, I used to like to pretend that I was endurance rider...or a pony express rider.  Sometimes, I'd ride my horse down to the mailbox and pick up the mail for my mom.

Oh...and this is apparently true, a man called the Altech WEG people to ask how he could enter his horse for the Endurance Race.  Too funny.